THAILAND
[UPDATE: Shophouse is now Cookhouse. Not sure why.]
I know I will receive a lot of flak for this one, but I have to be honest. I recently enjoyed a Thai meal in Manhattan (This was written long before Somtum Der came to be). Shocking, yes, as usually I either roll my eyes or audibly scoff any mention of Thai food outside of the few very good restaurants in Queens that exist. Sure, Pam Real Thai Food is ok, but now it has a little Hell's Kitchen competition.
I know I will receive a lot of flak for this one, but I have to be honest. I recently enjoyed a Thai meal in Manhattan (This was written long before Somtum Der came to be). Shocking, yes, as usually I either roll my eyes or audibly scoff any mention of Thai food outside of the few very good restaurants in Queens that exist. Sure, Pam Real Thai Food is ok, but now it has a little Hell's Kitchen competition.
You walk past a cute miniature kitchen preparation area in the front when you go in, but all of our food came from the back, so I am unclear what is done at this station besides the point of sale machine. The restaurant is very well designed, in a modern way, but still remains Thai in feeling, with bad pop music playing on the stereo and many lovely details.
I dined here during lunch, so the prices reflect that. Dinner prices (and portions) are more, by $2 or $3 an item. The lunch portions are sufficient though, two entrees and an appetizer filled the two of us fine.
The beginning of the meal was not wonderful with the som tum ($3, below) which unfortunately seemed to be using very unripe papaya. It also just failed to bring the heat like it should and was generally uninteresting.
Luckily our entrees made up for this, starting with the wok curry paste with pork ($7, below), which had string beans, eggplant, bamboo and basil to go with the pork. The dish had three stars next to it on the menu, meaning as spicy as it comes for this restaurant, and it sure did live up to that. The peppers here are not subtle at all, my forehead started beading with sweat immediately. It was then that my opinions started coming around on this place.
Good, but also cute lunch portions!
Also enjoyed was the Ratchaburi crab & pork dry noodle ($7, below), which had enjoyable meats but really shined with its homemade egg noodles. $2 is a small price to pay for the addition of pork crackling (also shown below), which gives the noodles a great crunch or can be eaten on their own.
The service here is very polite and maybe too attentive, but it all added up to a surprise, and a Thai restaurant that I would not be ashamed to bring people to. Will wonders never cease.
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